Sales Training Exercises

Selling with Success - Gaining Rapport
Gaining rapport is perhaps the single most important element to selling with success. Without rapport your chances at making a sale are slim to none. Rapport is created from your first point of contact with a potential client and so one easy way to gain rapport is through the use of your client’s name. Hence:

o Get to know your clients name,
o Use your client’s name,
o Remember your client’s name, and
o Use your client’s correct title.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Yet how often is this done in practice? I once accompanied my sister-in-law in Barbados to a new gym she wanted to check-out with a view to perhaps joining it. I’m a qualified Personal Trainer and so she, or rather my brother, wanted my expert opinion. I introduced myself to the Manager who then proceeded to spend the next minute or so asking me if I was called anything other than “Nickolove� even though I had indicated that was the name I preferred to be called. I wasn’t even the main client! So you can imagine how impressed I was with her sales skills. (The gym didn’t pass muster with me either.)

There are exceptions to using a person’s real name. One of my friends is called “Tifsihitâ€�. She is a beautiful individual and I wanted to honour her by using her full name and I tried to do so. However, she politely informed me that my efforts resulted in saying something rude and that she was happy to be called “Tâ€� â€" an abbreviation used by most of her friends. I humbly acquiesced.

Sometimes we meet individuals whose names we later or promptly forget. How many times has this happened to you? Do you ask the person their name again? In many cases people are reluctant to ask a person’s name the second or third time around. However, the irony is, people don’t mind being asked their name. It shows that you are interested in them and people generally respond favourably to this.

When you are talking to a customer, address them by name and use their name during the conversation. You don’t have to overdo it but when people hear their names mentioned it helps to make them feel that they are being spoken to as an individual rather then just anyone or everyone. It helps to give them confidence that you are seeking to address their individual needs.

Many people say that they can’t remember names. Just saying this helps to reinforce this negative and false belief. The truth is, unless you have a medical condition that affects your memory, you have a perfect memory and, with a little effort, you can remember the names of a roomful of people if you so desired.

One technique that helps me to remember a person’s name is for me to ask a person to spell their name for me, especially if it is somewhat unusual. When a person spells their name I can actually see the letters and this makes it easier for me to recall.

I am also unashamed at repeating a person’s name a few times until I get the pronunciation right (or not as in the case of Tifsihit!). This repetition also helps me to remember their name.

I also like to discover the meaning of names. I meet many people with exquisite sounding names and I’m always curious as to their meaning. Even common names have interesting meanings. Take the name “Stephen�. I discovered only this weekend that the name Stephen is of Greek origin and means ‘crown’. Knowing what someone’s name means is another way of engraving that person’s name into my memory. It also creates a natural focal point for light conversation which adds to building rapport.

There are many excellent resources on the market to help you develop your memory. I highly recommend choosing one of these resources if you want to dramatically improve your memory and your ability for remembering names. It’s too lengthy a discussion for this article.

Finally, use a client’s correct title. Many times I receive correspondence addressed to “Mr Nickolove Lovemore� or sometimes I receive calls asking to speak to “Mr…� What is really irritating about this is that, in many cases I have actually spoken to the person sending the correspondence and there is no way you could mistake the sound of my voice for that of a man.

I remember a situation where I received a letter from a real estate agent I had been dealing with who fell foul to this error. When I pointed out that my title should be “Ms� and not “Mr� I was told that they assumed “Mr Lovemore� was the decision-maker and so had addressed the letter accordingly. That went down like the proverbial lead weight. How chauvinistic! I was the individual to whom they always spoken to and yet it was assumed that I, a lowly female, was incapable of making a decision about a financial contraction of this magnitude even when a “Mr Lovemore� had never been mentioned.

Getting a client’s title wrong is a sure way to alienate them so if you are unsure about a client’s title simply ask them. If this is not possible then circumvent this problem by not using a title at all.

There are many hurdles to overcome with regards to building rapport. Get your client’s name right and you will sail over the first hurdle and be one step closer to selling with success.

Nickolove Lovemore is a Life & Success Coach and a NLP Practitioner. Please visit http://www.SuccessAccesories.com for information regarding new program - Selling with Success.

High Achiever Sales Professional Tool Kit: 5 Tools To Advance Your Sales Income
To become a high achieving sales professional, you must first become an expert communicator. Ask any sales person if they would like to make $250,000 a year and they universally say “yes.� But then look at the tool kit they use to pursue clients, and more than likely you will find that the sales tools are dull.

After 19 years of working with sales organizations in general, and high achieving sales professionals specifically, I’ve found that there are many tools that are prerequisite to advancing your income. These five that I will cover here are words and phrases that will create an environment with your prospect where they are telling you the truth. And since your most precious commodity is time, you can’t afford to waste it with people who lie to you.

1. “What would you like to accomplish today?�

I get called on by many sales organizations (some of them household names) and rarely, if ever, does a sales person start a meeting with, “What would you like to accomplish today, Bill.� This one question will save you hundreds of hours a year from working on things that don’t matter. It’s a way for the prospect to begin to share their problem with you. Just because the tool sounds simple, doesn’t mean it’s used.

2. “Is there any financial impact to this problem?�

I’m assuming that you’re not giving away your solution for free. And that in fact, there is a price the customer pays to buy and a price the customer pays not to buy. I want to understand the difference. By asking this question, you will start to learn what the financial consequences are for “not buying.� Then when you talk about your fee, the prospect will be comparing your fee to the cost of the problem. Sales amateurs will very rarely help the prospect make that connection. High achieving sales professionals deal with money more elegantly and eloquently. And this question will help you put money on the table without it just being about “your price.�

3. “Let’s do this.�

Get advances if you can’t close. “Lets do this� is a proven technique that allows you to talk about the next steps in the process while you move your prospect forward toward a final decision. Let’s suppose you’re an hour into the sales call and the prospect has shared with you some of the problems he has, but he’s still unsure of your product or service’s value. You want to go back to your office and study them prior to giving a proposal. In this case, you would say, “Let’s do this. I’m going to go back and put some thought into this and then let’s set a time we can come back in a week and take it a little further.� The better process manager you are, the better sales person you are.

4. “Here’s how we (I) typically work.�

Use this on the very first call where you’re laying out your process for getting them a solution. The high achiever needs to be thought of as an expert, not just in sales, but in the industry domain that you play in. Experts have processes and procedures. If you don’t have a sales process, get one immediately.

5. “I have a sense that…�

The elite sales executive pays close attention to their feelings. The “gut instinct� is a powerful internal communication device for you. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. If something does sound right, you’ve got to call it.

“I have a sense that…� are words in your sales professional toolbox that you can use to begin this conversation. I encourage my clients to use this if they are thirty minutes into the first call and the prospect hasn’t shared any problems or pains that he wants to fix. You might say, “In the first thirty minutes of our discussion today I haven’t heard anything that’s really a compelling reason for you to change from your current source. I kind of get this sense that if things just continued on it wouldn’t be all that bad.�

Give the prospect an opportunity react. It’s a way for the prospect to come back to you and either say yes, you’re right and it’s over (which is OK because as I said earlier, time is your most precious commodity, so move on) or he will convince you that he does have a problem worth exploring. And then, you will have control.



During his 19+ years of experience as a leader, experimenter and coach for hundreds of B2B sales teams, Bill Caskey has discovered that most sales organizations perform poorly in expressing their value to their prospects and customers resulting in severe underachievement by their sales force, long selling cycles, constant battles with clients and prospects and pressure on margins. To evolve into a higher achiever, increase your income you must first become a pioneer who dares to be different. To learn how, check out Bill Caskey’s High Achiever Resource Website: <a href="http://www.theelitesellerblog.com">http://www.theelitesellerblog.com</a>

Make the Competition Irrelevant
Is there an easy way to make the competition irrelevant? In an age with so much access to information, bombarded by advertisements and commercials, is it possible to keep the attention of your potential customers? What is the secret to help customers make an easy decision to buy? There is a secret formula that works for e-commerce, retail, bids and proposals. It is a simple formula that has worked since the days of bartering beads, beans and burrows. Create Differentiation Create differentiation within your own products or services. If you have an assortment of products or services to offer, you may have identified your differentiation already. Common examples of differentiation for products may be based on size, speed, color, components, combinations or accessories. Common examples of differentiation for services include speed, performance, quality, responsiveness, availability, ease or integration. If you are in the unique position of having only one product or service to offer potential customers then you should consider accessories, partners or other options to create a variety of levels from the perspective of your future customers. If all else fails, you can offer different levels of shipping speed or delivery. Focus on the Moment of Truth Focus on the moment of truth, the place or position that your products or services will be offered to the customer. In a retail environment this may be the end-cap, a wall display, shelf space or a counter display. On the Internet this may be an on-line store, e-bay or your personal web site. It may be in a catalog or a brochure. It could even be part of an email communication. Occasionally the moment of truth may be in the form of a bid or proposal after several months of discussions with a potential client. The moment of truth is the moment that the customer has a an option to make a purchase decision, to buy your products, invest in your services or hire you. This is the moment that you need to put your good, better and best foot forward. Good, Better and Best Give your customer three options. Show them something good, show them something better and show them your best. It is a simple formula that takes a little care and creativity in crafting your message. The three offers should be based on the foundation of a consistent theme, the single most important underlying reason to invest in your products or services. The 'good' product or service should be the lowest cost option but still demonstrate your inherent value and differentiation from the competition. You should be able to clearly define your value, the features, advantages and benefits of what you have to offer. This is the customer minimum investment to buy, and it should be a good one. Step up to better. Using the foundation established with your 'good' offer, add something more for a slightly higher price. The customer value should be easily distinguished and highlighted as more significant than the slightly increased price. Make a clear comparison to the "good" product or service. This should be a preferred alternative for the potential customer. The option should be slightly more expensive, but worth it. Some examples may include, "with additional 1GB memory", "includes six months of Satellite Radio", "bundle package includes download of 50 songs", "50% faster than the original", and similar comparisons. Show them your best. The third option should be the best that you have to offer, the cream of the crop. This is the most expensive option and will only be selected by the most exclusive of customers. It should also have something in common with the original "good" option and the "better" option, but the third and final option should be recognizable the best you have to offer. The price may be significantly higher than the other two options, and that is fine. Demonstrating a significant leap to a higher price point for the top of the line option will help to differentiate the cost value of the other two options. Do not expect large volume of sales on the best offer. Rather, use this to demonstrate competitive advantage and differentiation with the "wow" factor. Even if you have hundreds of customized solutions or products, select and present three options, good, better and best. In the decision process, human beings can easily compare and contrast three options. The mind can juggle three prices and three sets of features for a quick and easy decision process. Once you add a fourth element, the customer needs to start a deeper level of analytical comparison. If you have too many options then the customer will need to spend more time to consider the alternatives, and while they are weighing your multiple options they may start to consider the competition as well. Limit your presentation to three options. If the customer makes a specific request for an alternative, then provide the alternative that the customer has requested, but avoid introducing too many new variables unless asked. The more factors in a decision, the longer the process and the more likely to turn your "Moment of Truth" into a Lapse into Confusion. The Value Proposition For each option that you present to the potential customer, provide a value proposition. Your value proposition should be something that can be conveyed in three to five bullet points, three to five sentences, or spoken in thirty seconds or less. You should be precise and succinct. Present the value proposition from the customer point of view. For example, rather than say "we ship in three to five days", you could say "the product will typically arrive at your door in three to five days". Rather than say "we have the fastest process", you could say "our process is fast, so you get results faster". A value proposition typically contains the essential elements of Feature, Advantage, Benefit, Image and Offer. This is a reference to a specific important feature of your offer, the advantage as compared to the competition, and the benefit to the customer. The Image refers to a photograph or diagram. The Image is an important element of your value proposition, as people will generally remember an image more readily than words. Images convey feeling, and typically depict a lifestyle example of the customer enjoying the benefits of the feature's advantage. The Offer is a call to action. Give your customer an offer to buy, and let them know specifically how to conduct the purchase. Examples of the order call to action are "buy now", "limited time discount" or a number to call to place the order by phone. An example of the value proposition with the essential elements is "Call now to order the self-cleaning home brew coffee maker and start enjoying fresh, hot coffee with the extra convenience of no fuss, no muss and no clean-up. Order on-line to receive your free sample of assorted coffees, available while supplies last." All we need to complete this enticing offer is an image of hands gently caressing an aromatic steaming cup of coffee, cradled over a saucer. Plan, Do, Measure and Adjust Carefully plan your three offers and the value proposition for each. Once you introduce your three offers, measure the success rate of each option by the corresponding sales attach rate. Typically the "good" offer should be about 25% of your sales, and the "best" offer is normally only 15% of your sales. Some customers will want the lowest cost option, and some will want to be exclusive and purchase the best option regardless of price. The middle of the road "better" offer is customarily the lion share at 60% of your total sales. Most customers are willing to pay a little more for quality, speed or convenience associated with the "better" offer if presented properly, even if they do not want to pay the high price of the "best" option. The "better" alternative gives customers a chance to do a little better than "good", but still feel that they saved money as compared to the outrageously priced "best" option. If you do not experience the desired result in mix of sales then it may be necessary to adjust your plan or your value propositions. In any case, as long as the customers continue to make a selection between your options, the competition is irrelevant. Your customers can get what they want, and they will remain your customers. ______________________________________________________ Words of Wisdom "No computer network with pretty graphics can ever replace the salespeople that make our society work." - Clifford Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil, 1995 "You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale." - Brock Chisholm "Give your customer three options that they can compare without memorization. Make it quick, make it easy, and add value. - Just like that." - John Mehrmann ______________________________________________________ About the Author: John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital

John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.

Setting Your Goals In Sales Training
It doesn’t matter if you are in an auto sales training, TV and radio sales, estate sales or time share sales in my conversations with sales management over the years, I’ve found that top producers all have one thing in common: they’ve taken the time to sit down and create goals for themselves and committed to sales training. Even if during the sales seminar they were skeptical when they started the process of goal setting and planning, every one of them has become a true believer. What Is A True Believer? A “True Believerâ€� isn’t someone who just works sales leads. They are someone who has been amazed by the incredible power of goal setting and the power of their own mind to be sold on the sales job. Every one of them has accomplished far more than they ever believed possible even if they are in mobile home sales or business sales they are the ones that move up to the top. It didn’t stop with sales goals or material successes. This belief runs deep in all areas of their life. They’re convinced of the power of the mind and want share that with the world. They just seem to live in a world that favors them. There life has become an extension of their sales attitude. Are You Happy With Your Current Training? I defined happiness in training as, The progressive assimilation of worth while skills that will help me to reach my professional goals. As a sales trainer, I have been working progressively, step-by-step toward making permanent lasting impact on every sales professionals life. This purpose alone can generate a continuous feeling of success and achievement within me, but if it doesn’t translate in your personal sales training it is all for not. The sales game has always been the more people you sell, the more successful you will be. As a sales professional, you have more control of this than almost every other profession. Geoff Thomas a sales associate is found of telling his sales staff, “Your raise is effective just as soon as you are.â€� I know you can create an environment of happiness for your customer through fabricated rapport skills but a genuine joy for sales will close more deals than you can imagine. Without your skills of salesmanship, there would be nothing for company to do. When you walk out of the office in the evening, it is natural for you to feel like a winner. This goal is well entrenched in the sales experts I know. It also gives you the psychological momentum to overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you reach your sales goals and assist others. Sales training more than anything else should have you recharged as you go back out into the world. If the sales seminar doesn’t motivate you to work every sales lead more efficiently than why bother. Does Your Training Connect With Your Values? Every great trainer has a personal strategic planning process. It usually begins when you determine what you believe in and what you stand for â€" your values. If your values and the trainers match this is the glue that holds the core concepts of the sales training in place. These values shape our personality and our character as a sales professional. Your virtues and qualities are the sum total of all your thoughts, actions and beliefs since the moment you were born. Your values, virtues and inner beliefs are the axle around which the wheel of your life turns. All sales improvement begin when you clarify your true values and commit yourself to live consistently with them. It’s been said, “You must stand for something, or you will fall for anything!â€� Great sales trainers know the value of the sales process and believe every prospect they meet can find value in their product or services. When Attending A Training How Specific Should Your Goals Be? To achieve success in training you will find trainees are successful because they’re very clear and committed to their values and specific outcomes from the training. Unsuccessful trainees are fuzzy or unsure they perhaps were forced to the training without a buy in from the sales manager. When a training is a complete failure, you’ll find that the trainer didn’t clearly outline the real values of the training at all. These trainers stand for nothing and hope their audiences fall for everything. While training the sales staff at Positive Changes, our sales staff had access to a wealth of resources designed to help them succeed in their goals. For instance, use the Sales Mastery series to stimulate your other-than-conscious and keep you on track with specific, clear and organized sales goals. They trained each franchise location to set goals for the day, week and the month. Using these mind trips within themselves helped them to enroll others into its use.

Dr. Patrick Porter is an entrepreneur, award-winning author, and motivational speaker. His electrifying keynote speeches and seminars deliver the real life, nuts ‘n bolts concepts he used to take his business venture to astounding heights. http://www.patrickkporter.com

Seven Steps to Successful Sales
Being a successful salesperson does not happen by accident or blind luck. Success is the result of diligent effort applied to a structured system with commitment and passion. These seven steps are designed to help develop a system in a matter of minutes. Building on success to achieve your dreams is determined by how passionately committed you are to achieving the dreams of your customers. The first step is as easy as listening to them. 1. Introduce Yourself, Then Shut-Up and Listen The sales experience is not about the sales associate, it is about the customer. It is a courtship ritual to determine if the customer values the goods or services enough to invest in them by making a purchase. There is only one way to find out what the customer values, wants or needs and that is to listen intensely. If you are thinking about the next thing that you are going to promote then you can not concentrate on what the customer is telling you. Rather, think about how you can repeat what the customer is saying in your own words and you will be forced to listen intently to what they tell you. A successful sales professional can reflect the emotion as well as the content of a customer conversation. 2. Why the Offer is Important to the Individual Customer As new sales representatives learn about the company, products or services that they represent it is a natural inclination to initiate conversations by spewing facts and features like a walking commercial. Don't assume that the customer cares how you do something, how long you have done it or what you have been told makes you unique. The customer has a life with priorities, deadlines and responsibilities of his or her own. Show the customer what aspects of your offer are important from the customer perspective and resist the urge to talk about any other things that are not relevant. Of course, you will only know this if you have listened to your customer. A successful sales professional focuses only on the specific attributes of the offer that are relevant to the customer. 3. Get Confirmation, Then Explain the Details Get buy-in from the customer that you are on the right track. Ask the customer for feedback to confirm that the focus is on the appropriate facts, features or figures. Once you have provided feedback on your value as it pertains to the initial customer requirement, it is common for some customers to change the focus. This is an opportunity to find out if the customer has additional concerns or considerations. Listen with intensity and restate customer focus and topics in short sentences, reiterating each item that is important to the customer. Then explain the details of your offer that support all of these interests. A successful sales professional keeps the customer involved during the process of explaining relevant details of the specific offer. 4. Credibility, Show the Customer Why You can be Trusted If the offer is on target with the customer requirements then it is appropriate to demonstrate reasons that the customer should trust you. This may be accomplished by using specifications for products, white papers and case studies for services, independent articles or references. The manner of demonstrating credibility varies significantly by industry and market. If there are no documents or history to use as reference, it is possible to demonstrate credibility by making promises and keeping them. A promise may be as simple as a commitment to follow-up with additional information by a specific time. Even if the customer was a referral and credibility was implied, never take it for granted. A successful sales professional earns the trust of every single customer through commitments and actions. 5. What to Do and What It will Cost In addition to providing the price, also provide the details of what needs to be done to complete the transaction and what will happen after the sale. If the customer needs to take some action before, during or after the purchase then be sure to explain this in detail. In some cases there may be a registration, license or contract associated with the sale, so be sure to remove any mystery or doubt by stating the facts. Make sure that the customer is aware of any additional requirements or renewals. As an example, it would be incredibly disappointing for a customer to excitedly unpack a new printer and then discover that is it necessary to go back to the store for cables to connect it to a computer. Keep the customer satisfied and confident by providing step-by-step explanations and expectations. A successful sales professional knows the process and educates the customer. 6. Schedule Next Steps In many cases there may be several steps in the sales cycle. If ongoing negotiation is necessary then schedule the next meetings and milestones. If registration or installation is necessary after the sale then initiate discussions to accommodate the customer schedule. For significant purchases and investments it may be necessary for the customer to review budget or finances, in which case it is appropriate to schedule periodic follow-up to accommodate these considerations. A successful sales professional fills the pipeline by keeping a consistent schedule for continuous customer conversations. 7. Ask for the Sale Don't assume that the customer is going to ask for the sale. Ask for the sale to determine if it is time to stop selling and time to start processing the purchase and assisting with the appropriate next steps to support the customer. Some sales associates are so passionate about the product that they keep promoting it long after the customer has made a decision to purchase and can actually lose a customer in the process. Stop pouring when the glass is full. A successful sales professional will periodically pause to ask for the sale. Seven Step to Successful Sales 1. Introduce Yourself, Then Shut-Up and Listen 2. Why the Offer is Important to the Individual Customer 3. Get Confirmation, Then Explain the Details 4. Credibility, Show the Customer Why You can be Trusted 5. What to Do and What It will Cost 6. Schedule Next Steps 7. Ask for the Sale Cut out the Seven Steps for Successful Sales and keep it handy to prepare and reflect before each customer conversation. Make some notes for personal reference that pertain to your specific product or service for each of the seven steps. Put it in your own words. Know your process and listen intensely to your customers. Know where your customers are within the seven step process. Take care of your customers and continue your conversations after every sale to repeat the cycle and nurture your pipeline. ______________________________________________________ Words of Wisdom "The essence of selling is understanding your customer's needs and convincing him that you're the best one to meet them." - Fred Blalek, co-founder, National Semiconductor Corp "In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman." - David M Ogilvy "Companies are no longer setting the agenda for what customers want. They're finding out where the agenda is being set and enhancing it. The customers decide what's important. Your job is to listen and respond." - Avram Miler, Technology Consultant ______________________________________________________ John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital

John Mehrmann is an author, speaker and industry expert with Executive Blueprints Inc. http://www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com

Setting Your Goals In Sales Training
It doesn?t matter if you are in an auto sales training, TV and radio sales, estate sales or time share sales in my conversations with sales management over the years, I?ve found that top producers all have one thing in common: they?ve taken the time to sit down and create goals for themselves and committed to sales training.

Even if during the sales seminar they were skeptical when they started the process of goal setting and planning, every one of them has become a true believer.

What Is A True Believer?

A ?True Believer? isn?t someone who just works sales leads. They are someone who has been amazed by the incredible power of goal setting and the power of their own mind to be sold on the sales job. Every one of them has accomplished far more than they ever believed possible even if they are in mobile home sales or business sales they are the ones that move up to the top.

It didn?t stop with sales goals or material successes. This belief runs deep in all areas of their life. They?re convinced of the power of the mind and want share that with the world. They just seem to live in a world that favors them. There life has become an extension of their sales attitude.

Are You Happy With Your Current Training?

I defined happiness in training as, The progressive assimilation of worth while skills that will help me to reach my professional goals. As a sales trainer, I have been working progressively, step-by-step toward making permanent lasting impact on every sales professionals life.

This purpose alone can generate a continuous feeling of success and achievement within me, but if it doesn?t translate in your personal sales training it is all for not. The sales game has always been the more people you sell, the more successful you will be. As a sales professional, you have more control of this than almost every other profession. Geoff Thomas a sales associate is found of telling his sales staff, ?Your raise is effective just as soon as you are.?

I know you can create an environment of happiness for your customer through fabricated rapport skills but a genuine joy for sales will close more deals than you can imagine. Without your skills of salesmanship, there would be nothing for company to do. When you walk out of the office in the evening, it is natural for you to feel like a winner. This goal is well entrenched in the sales experts I know. It also gives you the psychological momentum to overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you reach your sales goals and assist others.

Sales training more than anything else should have you recharged as you go back out into the world. If the sales seminar doesn?t motivate you to work every sales lead more efficiently than why bother.

Does Your Training Connect With Your Values?

Every great trainer has a personal strategic planning process. It usually begins when you determine what you believe in and what you stand for ? your values. If your values and the trainers match this is the glue that holds the core concepts of the sales training in place. These values shape our personality and our character as a sales professional.

Your virtues and qualities are the sum total of all your thoughts, actions and beliefs since the moment you were born. Your values, virtues and inner beliefs are the axle around which the wheel of your life turns. All sales improvement begin when you clarify your true values and commit yourself to live consistently with them. It?s been said, ?You must stand for something, or you will fall for anything!? Great sales trainers know the value of the sales process and believe every prospect they meet can find value in their product or services.

When Attending A Training How Specific Should Your Goals Be?

To achieve success in training you will find trainees are successful because they?re very clear and committed to their values and specific outcomes from the training. Unsuccessful trainees are fuzzy or unsure they perhaps were forced to the training without a buy in from the sales manager.

When a training is a complete failure, you?ll find that the trainer didn?t clearly outline the real values of the training at all. These trainers stand for nothing and hope their audiences fall for everything.

While training the sales staff at Positive Changes, our sales staff had access to a wealth of resources designed to help them succeed in their goals. For instance, use the Sales Mastery series to stimulate your other-than-conscious and keep you on track with specific, clear and organized sales goals. They trained each franchise location to set goals for the day, week and the month. Using these mind trips within themselves helped them to enroll others into its use.

Dr. Patrick Porter is an entrepreneur, award-winning author, and motivational speaker. His electrifying keynote speeches and seminars deliver the real life, nuts ?n bolts concepts he used to take his business venture to astounding heights. <a href="http://www.patrickkporter.com">http://www.patrickkporter.com</a>

Business Lesson: Ongoing Leader Development
I have been doing business consulting for several years. Rarely am I contacted to help a business move to the next level of growth. In fact I am typically approached only when there are major business problems to be addressed. Why do business owners and managers wait for problems before they seek help with their businesses?

As I conduct my initial fact finding efforts, I rarely find a business owner or manager who has been examining and implementing new business trends. I rarely find business owners and managers who have focused time and effort on their own personal business growth and development.

By not reading relevant books, attending seminars, taking courses and using all other means available to continue their personal growth as managers and leaders, the business owner or manager risks becoming stagnant. As times and trends change uniformed leaders find themselves in a position of missing the critical changes in the business environment. Often these critical changes equate to the difference between long-term success and failure.

Business performance (Typically a lack of performance!) becomes the reason that these managers and owners finally look outside their own business. These business owners and managers seek help in recovering lost levels of business performance. The result: Business failure, or at the very least, underperformance. Then consultants like me are asked to come in and help turn the business around.

There is a smarter and less stressful path to follow. That path? Business owners and managers need to stay current with changes that are occurring on the business world. Business owners and managers need to budget time and some money toward their own ongoing development.

This investment does not require huge amounts of time or money. What it does require is the dedication to follow through and continue to grow. It requires learning new skills, refreshing already developed skills, and being open to new ideas and approaches.

Often the biggest challenge will be determining the key nuggets of information, and then applying those key nuggets to current management methods and business operations.

There are many sources of information. These include colleges (Many community colleges offer free/low cost courses.), seminars (In-person and teleconferences.), books (Name the topic, and there is almost always a newly released title available.), magazines (Current trends and business problems are well-covered.), and many more. Many of the best sources for both leader development and emerging trend for your specific industry can be found online.

There are many other benefits from continued learning and development. This is especially true at in-person events. One of the greatest benefits to continued development is the networking that often accompanies the training. Lifelong friendships can be formed. Business mentors and advisors can be found. The opportunity to help others in the search for business success can present itself too.

An enlightened leader is a leader who is most likely to be a success.

Bob Hamilton is a business author (His first business novel is WINNING BASICS – A Story of Leadership, Communication and Inspiration ISBN 1-4137-9684-2.), online business writer, and business consultant and trainer. http//www.RobertBHamilton.com http//www.marketingsuccesscenter.com, http//www.cooksbestbooks.com http//www.openingadollarstore.com and business consultant. Bob can be reached rbhamil1@aol.com.

What do you want it to do?
"What do you want it to do?" That's all he asked: My wife and I stopped into a car dealership last night to look at cars. We were met by Robert who asked politely if he could help us. After we convinced him that we had no idea what we were looking for and just wanted to wander the lot, he told us to take our time and left us alone. Mistakenly, I thought I had shaken him. On the way back to our car, Robert appeared again. He asked if we had found anything we liked and again I said that we were just looking and still had no idea whether we wanted an SUV, a minivan or a 4 door. I thought that level of vagueness, which was the actual truth, would end the conversation. Not so. Robert started in. "I understand your confusion. There is so much to choose from. But just think of it this way:what do you want it to do?" Then he shut up. Instantly, my wife said it had to carry stuff from the hardware store and be drivable by someone under five feet tall. I insisted that it held 5-6 people and have plenty of luggage room. Within two minutes Robert had gathered every requirement that we had discussed together as we considered a new car. His next comment was irresistible. He asked, "May I show you a car that fits that description and will absolutely astound you?" How do you say no to someone who has just offered to give you exactly what you wanted and needed? You don't, and that's the point. I have to admit that I don't find many shining examples of great salesmanship at car dealerships, but Robert was an exception. What he understood was the essence of consultative selling. Be of service, determine the need, and offer informed solutions. At virtually every other dealership we visited, we were either ignored or greeted by a sales person who was quick to launch into the strengths of their brand without a clue what we were looking for. They could have been replaced with a tape machine that just played over and over. Most companies spend weeks teaching their new sales people the details of their product or service. They want to create experts who can go out into the world and serve their clients. While that's all well and good, most spend a small fraction of that time teaching their new recruits how to sell those same products or services. In my experience, there is little correlation between product expertise and sales results. Don't get me wrong, I think product knowledge is critical to success. I just don't see that the ones who know it best are the ones who sell the most. In fact, I often find top sales performers who are adept at leveraging off the knowledge of others because they know they lack some of the depth required to consummate the deal. The best sales people are the ones that have the desire and the ability to determine what the client wants and needs, and the skill to match them with a set of possible solutions. That's consultative selling. You might also be interested in a new article entitled, "How to Leave a Voice Mail That Gets Results". You can get a free copy by sending an email to article16@waterhousegroup.com. Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales training company that helps companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com. Re-Print Permission This article may be reprinted in it's entirety if the following conditions are met: The complete tag with the author's name and contact information is included immediately after the article. A copy of the printed article is mailed to the author at 1467 Walnut Creek Drive, Orange Park, FL 32003 within 30 days of publication. The article is presented in a positive light as part of an appropriate business related publication.

Steve Waterhouse, CSP Founder and President Steve Waterhouse's career as a record setting sales professional and sales manager make him uniquely qualified to help companies dramatically improve sales and increase profits.

Giving the Customers What They Want
To give customers what they want, you first need to know who they are. There is going to require some research on your part to find out who they are and then what do they need. In doing so, you can develop your own personal niche, in a specific market. There are certain tips that can be used in developing your own niche. Of course some form of research will be necessary as well. In order for you to develop your own niche in the market, it is vital that you take time out to do an “ideal customer profileâ€� to suit you and your business. So what is an ideal customer for me and my business I hear you ask? Good question and there are several answers to this. We are going to cover the two most important. From experience, I did all of my own prospecting, I did not use Mail shots, Advertising, or Telesales. I actually phoned the potential customer myself and said, “My name is Leslie Johnston, we haven’t met yet that’s the reason I’m phoning you. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to see if we like and trust each other, and then decide which areas now or in the future we can make some money off of each other. Is morning or afternoon the best time for you and me to share ten minutes togetherâ€�……….. My Question to the secretary or to who ever answered the phone was:-“could tell me who is the person responsible for the profitability of the company please?â€� and that got me to speak to the right person This approach got me a 38% success rate from all phone calls in getting to talk to the person that I wanted to speak to, and a whopping 84% success rate to getting the appointment with the people I did talk to. That to me was exactly what I wanted the appointment for, I was not lying anywhere in that script. The prospect knew precisely why I was coming, and they welcomed the honesty of the approach. If I was going to have a close working relationship with them, then I wanted to know if I could trust them or not. Do you really want to work with someone that you don’t like? This was exactly what the customer wanted to know about me as well, they had just never voiced it before. Have you ever met a business person that didn’t want to talk about the possibility of making money? I then picked on average 1 in 10 of the people that I talked to take on as a client of mine. Yes, you read that correctly, I Only Took 10% on Average of the People I Talked to as Clients of Mine. “Whyâ€�, I hear you ask? I only wanted top quality customers because the time spent on a small profit sale is the same as a large profit one so why waste time on the small sales? The second most important thing to look for in your ideal customer profile is:- Do they want your product or service? Do they have the authority to buy? Do they have the money to pay for it? Now let’s look at the first one â€"a customer who wants your product or service. When I worked in Financial Services I discovered very quickly that virtually everyone Needed Life Insurance, but very few people Wanted Life Insurance. We humans will find the money for whatever it is that we want, irrespective as to whether or not we need it. Our homes are full of stuff that we didn’t need, but things that we wanted. The simple way to find out what it is that they want is to ask them. It is very important that you find your ideal customer first, and then find a product or service for them. That is exactly the way that I did it, and then tailored a service to suit my customer in my chosen market place Have They Got the Authority to Buy? A question that I found worked the best was, “Who is responsible for the profitability of the company?â€� When I was doing my survey of companies and asking them what it was that they wanted in an ideal world. Two answers always came up. (1) To make more profit (2) To pay less tax. So I learned how to make companies more profitable and how to exploit the legal loopholes in order to pay less tax. One of the ways to make companies more profit is to show them how to sell more. So I started sales training. -Get the idea â€"Give them what they want. It really is that simple. There is at least one niche to exploit in every market and there are usually several So start looking for yours now dare to be different and you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams For more help on this, go now to www.thehandsontrainingsystem.com. and get my 5 part training program Yours in Success Leslie Johnston

Leslie Johnston has been in sales and Management since 1969 and during that time has worked in the Tire Industry until 1981 and then in the financial services until 2000. He is a very entertaining and dynamic speaker and as a sales trainer he is truly awesome and highly motivational. Since the mid Seventies he has conducted hundreds of seminars and training courses during that time. He has now retired from selling but keeps extremely active speaking and teaching others how to sell. All of the sales training that he received in his early days he reckoned that some thing was missing and it was all what he calls “Product Bashing� and then spent the next 5 years studying and experimenting on how to “Problem Solve “ and his sales figures went through the roof. Follow what he teaches you to do and just watch your income GROW!

National Blinds & Doors
National Blinds & Doors
Blinds & Doors are an indispensable part of your home and a major source of insulation to a home. Blinds & Doors come in different styles and colors according to the latest modern trends. Blinds & doors are a basic part of your home comfort and aesthetics, so always select the right window fashions & doors for your home or any other project because the first notion is the last, so be careful in this matter because blinds and doors can noticeably increase the value of a home.
National Blinds & Doors offer a very high quality and elegant unobtrusive insect screen system to give a perfect level of class and elegance to your home that blends with either timber or aluminium. You can also select from a vast array of styles to suit bi-fold doors, French doors, and sliding doors. There are many other types of screen doors available from national blinds & doors, to suit doors such as stacker alfresco doors for outer entertainment rooms and screen enclosures.
Now you can enjoy the most beautiful evening breezes more than ever before without being interrupted by various insects and bugs with the expansion of a new concept in unobtrusive retractable insect screens with National blinds & doors. They prevent your home from insects and have ability to make your choice almost unnoticeable, especially when they are installed in large openings.
National blinds & doors are also for those clientele looking to renovate or refurbish their homes and then sell them or those who wish to restore their homes before moving in themselves. In order to assist in the amount of light that’s required to come through a window, National blinds & doors are your best source to décor your home with unique and reliable materials along with the latest designs.
Types of National blinds & doors
Plantation Shutters: - Plantation Shutters can be custom made for your home from many different substrates to have exactly the type of individual class, elegance and long-lasting grace required, at a very reasonable price! Providing continuous all-round efficiency and a life span of total elegance and a wonderful fit with any decor. Plantation Shutters will help you make your dreams become a reality for you and your home and offer an extensive range of styles to suit various applications.
Motorised Blinds: - Motorised blinds are power-driven interior and exterior window shading systems that can be operated by State of the Art controls, switches, AV and the most advanced Home Automation Systems such as AMX along with timers, and sun sensors which add complexity as well as good looks to any room for your home or office. National blinds & doors specialise in motorised window treatments and offer a complete range of programmed and motorised shades.
Blinds: - Blinds (roller) are now available in new deluxe and exclusive fabrics. These excellent energy-efficient shades currently exist with a full range of Dual lifting systems and device options.
Cedar Shutters: - Cedar Shutters is the second name of Smooth Finish. Strength and Durability. Natural Finish. Cedar Shutters can be modified to your specification. Cedar is a long-lasting wood; and in its natural condition, not harmfully exaggerated by rain or sun. It gamely accepts oil- and water-based paints and stains.
If you’re looking for a door that’s safe and secure, save your time and select National Blinds & Doors for your home. These blind and doors are very easy to operate and are very practical. You can purchase or order National Blinds & Doors from www.nationalblindsdoors.com.au, which is a worldwide leading company that offers sky-scraping quality and finish to their blinds and doors. There are huge varieties of blinds & doors available on the market with different styles, colors, shapes and materials. http://www.nbdonline.com.au�is a best gateway to quality window and door fashions for new and old customers.

National Blinds & Doors is your number one choice window coverings - We will supply and install the latest in Plantation Shutters, Motorised Blinds, Roman Blinds, Timber verticals and any other Window covering you may need.